If you’re looking for a Christmas present for the new teacher in your life, do consider What do new teachers need to know? Lots in there to support the development of new teachers Reviews here

If you’re looking for a Christmas present for the new teacher in your life, do consider What do new teachers need to know? Lots in there to support the development of new teachers Reviews here

Observed a teacher today and then gave feedback. All the way through thinking - this person looks familiar Only afterwards I realised I think I taught them. Doh!

To what extent is creating an inclusive classroom about the design of the physical space (furniture, layout etc)? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I liked the new Frankenstein film (not sure why it changed so much) but at one point a character says, ‘You’re the monster, Victor’ …

NEW POST Almost every school I know has a list of Teaching and Learning or curriculum "non-negotiables." But is that a good term to use in schools? Please share if you can 🙏🙏 substack.com/home/post/p-...

If ever you want to feel a bit baffled, I recommend having a look through the job listings for a school like this one...

Last year I wrote a series of blogs for new teachers in their first weeks on the job Here’s one on behaviour…

How can you improve behaviour if things haven’t started well? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2024/09/09/f...

Occasionally I see a job advertised and I like to imagine how badly I would do in the job interview…

Temperature really dropped over night...

Advice here for teaching first lessons if that’s you today curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/t...

Setting up First Lessons curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2023/08/30/s...

Setting up First Lessons curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2023/08/30/s...

Exciting roles available if you’re looking for a change this year…

Urgh… school coffee is bad, isn’t it?!

What are our priorities in the classroom in the first week? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2024/09/02/f...

What are our priorities in the classroom in the first week? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2024/09/02/f...

Teaching First Lessons curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/t...

Teaching First Lessons curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/t...

First Weeks #1 What are my priorities outside the classroom? A series I wrote last year for those starting out in teaching curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2024/08/27/f...

First Weeks #1 What are my priorities outside the classroom? A series I wrote last year for those starting out in teaching curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2024/08/27/f...

Been reading this for months and I’m enjoying it but *spoiler alert* you get 500 pages in and he tells you there are actually two more plots

@adamboxereducation.bsky.social just listened to Craig Barton. Feel we need some Expedition 33 chat. What’s your party/pictos/lumina set up etc? Just finished the main story last night Such a pretty game

Daughters are desperate for term to end so we can play schools in our kitchen

Sunday afternoon crumpet making which is quite a lot of faff and produces crumpets about as good as you can buy…

Routledge have a sale on. Both my books slightly cheaper than Amazon! www.routledge.com/The-Long-Gam...

Spent a lovely bit of time this afternoon registering ECTs for next year who were born well into the 2000s 🤯

Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy this review from @pnjfoster.bsky.social

Anyone playing Expedition 33? An exceedingly pretty game

Colleague had to explain this ‘flash card’…

15 years since I completed my PGCE Also 15 years since the group organising the graduation celebration regretted their decision to book a terrible comedian

Desperately binging through The Bear in the vain hope of finding out that everyone is going to be ok…

Useful insights here on the benefits of CFU and how we might frame upcoming checks

Excellent from Nimish on what it means to lead across schools

What’s great about this from @mrarobbins.bsky.social is that it isn’t telling you exactly how your CPD should look Instead, it gives you lots of principles, research and case studies from which you can design CPD that works in your school

How can thinking about habits help teachers? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/c...

Maybe it's just me, but this video plays completely to my teacher-nerd soul. I count 6 discrete strategies here. Here's one to get you thinking - listen to the pacing of his countdown, and think about the tempo in the two different countdowns, and why Jack decides they should be different.

*new this week* How can habits help teachers? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/c...

How can thinking about habits help teachers? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/c...

*new* Can we manage workload more effectively? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/10/c...

I’m in a competition with a TA I taught when she was in Year 11 - who can read the most books this year?! She is winning currently which is galling because she was not complimentary about English at the time

Got the exciting news from my wife that we’d won something in our girls’ school raffle… Was a bottle of wine or some chocolate? No, it’s a watering can shaped like a teapot

Me when there’s minor road works on my way to work…

*new* Could we make teaching less intense? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/03/c...

The intensity of teaching.... Lots of this resonates with me. Can we make it less intense?

*new* Could we make teaching less intense? curriculumteamleader.wordpress.com/2025/06/03/c...

This is great We're incredibly fortunate to have people like Mike translating research into the clear implications for classroom practice

Stephen is that rare thing - a journalist speaking with actual knowledge of the debates about curriculum Well worth a read